1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wheel cover for an automobile, especially to a wheel cover provided with a flexible annular member around the wheel cover body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a wheel cover for an automobile, a front elevational view of which is shown in FIG. 1. The wheel cover has a hard wheel cover body 101 and a flexible annular member 102 fitted around the periphery of the wheel cover body 101. The wheel cover body 101 is of a size (diameter) that its periphery does not come into contact with a tire (not shown) even when the outer side of the tire swells. This structure prevents the wheel cover from being pushed out by the tire falling off a wheel during the operation of the automobile. For example, this could occur when a tire rides over a curbstone and the outside face of the tire swells. In such a wheel cover, disengagement of the wheel cover can be prevented by the absorption of the ballooning of the outside face of the tire by the elastic deformation of the flexible annular member 102.
According to the wheel cover of the above type, it is necessary to mount the flexible annular member 102 securely to the wheel cover body 101 so that the flexible annular member 102 is not disengaged during the deformation of the tire. For example, in the wheel cover of the type as disclosed in Japanese Patent laid-open Publication No. 90201/1987, the mounting part of the flexible annular member has projections formed on the wheel cover body which are passed through holes formed on the flexible annular member, and the extremity of each projection is caulked to fix the flexible annular member to the wheel cover body. In addition to the caulking of the extremity of the projection, there is also disclosed a means including a member for snap fitting to the extremity of the projection to fix the flexible annular member to the wheel cover body.
However, when mounting the flexible annular member as carried out in the former construction, the mounting work is complicated since caulking of the projection is necessary, and in the latter, there is a disadvantage because a separate mounting member is necessary.